


mad about you

by rories



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 01:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8382676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rories/pseuds/rories
Summary: a derek x stiles newsstand au
derek has A Routine.  stiles is about to mess it all up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> written over two years ago for a challenge. title blatantly stolen from the show mad about you because that's how i imagine them lol. 
> 
> [here's](http://i.imgur.com/3lByz8m.png) a picture to go with it

Derek has a schedule. He wakes up, goes for a jog in the park, showers, and he's out the door by 7:45 am which gives him just enough time to stop at the corner store for a coffee and the daily newspaper. He's been following this same schedule for two years, ever since he moved into his own apartment. It's barely a variation from the schedule he had when he lived with his sister. 

Which is why, on a dreary Thursday morning, when the hot water in his apartment goes out, Derek is thrown for a loop. He calls the super and anxiously looks at his watch as the phone rings and rings. When the guy finally answers, he immediately puts Derek on hold, and Derek only just manages to catch the look of horror on his own face in the bathroom mirror. By the time Derek actually talks to his super and gets a reassurance that the man will be there sometime today, Derek is officially seven minutes late. 

Seven minutes is apparently just enough time to throw off his entire schedule. 

The corner store where he usually stops is equidistant between his apartment and his place of work. It has good prices and decent coffee and an extensive array of newspapers and magazines. Derek loves it. But now he's seven minutes late with, and he glances at his watch for the sixth time, absolutely no time to stop.

He heaves a heavy sigh before nodding at a confused looking Isaac through the window of the shop and heads uptown towards his office.

By mid-morning Derek is a disaster. Erica has already called him a raging asshole and has threatened to quit twice. Boyd won't even talk to him. Laura is just laughing, silent behind the glass walls of her office. Since Derek absolutely cannot lose Erica at all, he finishes up a bout of paper work and then heads back down to the street in front of the office. 

The food carts that dot the street have never really appealed to Derek, but he feels like this might be his last resort for a caffeine fix. The coffee cart is four people deep, so Derek parks himself in line and looks around. It doesn't take long before he finally orders his coffee, the first sip of which is absolutely awful. But it's hot and caffeinated which is exactly what he needs.

He figures he's had enough time now to let Erica cool off a little, so he makes his way back towards his building. He passes bike messengers and food carts and drops his change from his coffee into a busker's open violin case. He's about to start up the stairs to his building when a newspaper stand catches his eye. He thinks about all of the news he's probably missed by not reading the paper this morning, the crossword he would have had finished by now, and the sports pages he would have passed on to Boyd, and decides to swing by the stand. 

The local paper isn't hard to find, in a large pile next to other dailies. He grabs one, tucks it under the arm holding his coffee and looks up to hand the employee his money.

 

His heart catches in his throat. The man reaching out for the bill in Derek's hand is like nothing he's ever seen before. Derek can feel his mouth go dry and a hot flush crawls across his skin and all he can do is stare as he's handed his change.

The man in front of him is some kind of beautiful; big brown eyes that are full of mirth and mischief, red lips that are begging to be kissed, tousled hair that makes Derek's palm itch with the want to run his hand through it. 

Derek's throat clicks as he takes his change and there's a buzzing in his ears that's muffling the words the young man is saying. He just nods instead and turns away without a word, the other man's face imprinted on his brain like a brand.

 

He spends the rest of the day in a haze, absentmindedly sipping his now cold coffee. He's passed off the entire paper to Boyd who'd just given him a blank look. 

 

The next day, Derek wakes up at his usual time, goes for his normal jog, showers, and leaves his apartment with plenty of time to spare.

He has no explanation for why he walks completely by his corner store and instead continues on his way to the office. The coffee cart is there and no one is in line, so Derek orders for everyone in the office. It only takes a few minutes to take them all upstairs and leave them on Boyd, Erica, and Laura's desks and then he's throwing the empty cup carousel into the recycle. He leaves a note on Erica's desk, tucked underneath a pastry he bought her downstairs, tells her he's sorry for the way he acted and to please not leave. 

His next stop is back downstairs. He tries to be cool as he makes his way to the newsstand and even though his face is blank and his body loose, his hands are sweating and his eyes keep flicking across the sidewalk. 

Finally, Derek is at the stand, but he doesn't look up until he's run his hands over at least five of the different newspapers. 

"Morning."

Derek's hand pauses over one of the tabloids, hovers over claims of cheating among the Hollywood elite. There's absolutely no way the man behind the stand is talking to him. But still, Derek has to know. He finally looks up, after what was probably too much time for it not to be awkward. 

The young man is grinning, smile wide and inviting, and Derek feels something lurch in his chest.

"Morning?" the guy says again, grin faltering.

"Mor – Morning," Derek answers, having to clear his throat halfway through. 

"Looking for anything in particular?" the man asks. "We've got local papers, not so local papers, foreign papers. Anything you want."

_You_ , Derek thinks.

"Or I have magazines. Men's magazines, women's magazines, non-gender specific magazines. Name it, I probably have it."

"Um," is Derek's eloquent response. 

His heart is fluttering in his chest and his brows furrow in frustration. 

_You're handsome._

_I want you._

_Have dinner with me?_

Derek watches in horror as the man's eyebrows raise higher with every second of silence from Derek. "Dude...are you okay?" 

Derek finally snaps out of it, shaking his head a little before finally picking up a paper, not even reading which one he's grabbed. "Just this," he says, handing the guy a five dollar bill. "Keep the change." The grin the kid flashes at him as he nods his head will stay with Derek for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow, Derek will learn his name.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't even know


End file.
